Chapter 7: Void Insect Hive
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 7: Void Insect Hive
[Spirit Form Lv.13]
[Enter a spiritual state. In this state, you cannot be detected or harmed, but you are also unable to deal damage. Gain the abilities of flight and phasing. When you exit Spirit Form, your next basic attack deals an additional 500% damage.]
[Cooldown: None / Cost: 5 Mana per second]
[Echo Lv.7]
[Consume any amount of Mana to empower your weapon. Your next basic attack will deal additional True Damage in an area with a radius equal to (Mana Consumed * 70%) meters. This damage is equal to half of the total damage of the basic attack.]
[Cooldown: 30s]
Echo had increased its damage radius, giving it decent power when facing large groups of enemies.
Spirit Form, however, was a bit more special. Previous upgrades had only reduced its mana consumption, but at Level 13, it had gained a damage-boosting affix.
"It seems skills only undergo quantitative changes until they hit a certain level, where they trigger a qualitative leap."
The 500% additional damage multiplier increased Xie Bai's output sixfold, instantly pushing her total damage into a terrifying realm.
Factoring in the bonuses from Echo, Xie Bai did a rough calculation.
A single basic attack of hers consisted of four damage instances, which could potentially deliver a staggering total of nearly fifteen million damage.
Unfortunately, due to the restrictions of Greed's Curse, each individual instance of damage could not exceed 2.74 million.
The third hit of her triple-strike would be capped, and the damage from Echo would also be limited.
Taking the restrictions of Greed's Curse into account, Xie Bai calculated the maximum damage a single basic attack could deal.
With over ten thousand Intelligence, her processing speed was immensely enhanced. It took her only half a second to arrive at the figure.
10,479,320!
Over ten million!
Furthermore, because Envy's Blessing ignored damage reduction, this ten million output would hit the target in its entirety.
Combined with the anti-resurrection property of Funeral Rites, Xie Bai could confidently say that as long as an opponent's health didn't exceed ten million, she could insta-kill them and eliminate any future trouble.
However, if she failed to secure the kill, the opponent might have ways to trigger a health-gate or release a massive AoE that could one-shot her in return.
As the wearer of the Ring of Seven Curses, Xie Bai would never allow such a dangerous situation to occur.
She hadn't forgotten that all her gains came with immense risks.
None of the curses from the Ring of Seven Curses were easy to deal with—especially the effect of Greed's Curse, which amplified death penalties tenfold.
While Xie Bai wasn't sure if having a Game Panel granted her the same resurrection abilities as a Player, she was certain that even if she could revive, dying once would see her utterly ruined by Greed's Blessing.
What if the death penalty involved a percentage-based loss?
Setting aside losing levels or gear, if the penalty included a percentage of her gold...
Xie Bai would be finished.
After the tenfold amplification from Greed's Curse, she estimated she would lose 100% of her gold. At that point, she would have nothing left and wouldn't even be able to deal damage.
Considering how the affixes of the Ring of Seven Curses were all interconnected and progressive, Xie Bai believed this possibility was very high.
Those who dance on the edge of a blade need only slip once to fall into the abyss.
Xie Bai understood this principle well.
After making full preparations, Xie Bai activated Spirit Form and entered the Void Insect Hive.
The Spirit Form skill now consumed 5 mana per second.
Her mana regeneration per second was 1% of her Intelligence. With 13,811 Intelligence, she recovered 138 mana per second.
This was more than enough to maintain Spirit Form indefinitely.
A moment later, Xie Bai reached the entrance of the Void Insect Hive.
[Void Insect Hive Lv.80]
[Difficulty: Disaster]
[Entry Requirement: Level 80, Non-Chaos Faction (Ignored)]
[The Void Insect Race slumbers here. If disturbed, they will surely bring a cataclysmic disaster to this continent.]
It had to be said, Pride's Blessing was incredibly useful; it allowed her to ignore entry requirements for any dungeon. This gave Xie Bai the opportunity to farm high-level instances directly.
Just like in typical games, experience gain was tied to the level gap. If her level got too high, killing low-level monsters would yield diminishing returns or even zero experience. Conversely, slaying high-level monsters would grant a massive windfall of experience.
"I hope the health of the insects inside doesn't exceed 2.7 million."
Limited by Greed's Curse, Echo could only deal a maximum of 2.74 million damage.
Initially, Xie Bai thought 2.74 million gold was a lot, but how long had it been before it started feeling insufficient?
"Besides leveling up, I need to stockpile more gold," Xie Bai muttered to herself as she stepped into the Void Insect Hive.
Buzz—
After a brief moment of tinnitus, Xie Bai found herself inside the hive.
Strangely, there wasn't a single insect in sight.
"Is it because they're still slumbering? Do I need to actively wake the hive?"
Xie Bai instinctively ignored the potential catastrophe that waking the hive might cause. As long as it didn't hinder her from becoming stronger, she didn't much care about the survival of the world.
"Eh? There's actually someone over there."
Looking into the distance, Xie Bai spotted an old man tiptoeing around, setting up some kind of device.
Relying on the fact that Spirit Form made her undetectable, Xie Bai stealthily floated over to his side.
[Roland Lv.89]
[Class: Alchemist of Subversion and Truth]
[HP: 15,888,300 / 15,888,300]
[Mana: 325,000,000 / 325,000,000]
[Strength: 325,558]
[Constitution: 158,883]
[Intelligence: 3,255,890]
[Agility: 233,220]
[Talent: Transcendent Refinement]
[Skills: Universal Reconstruction Lv.1, World Analysis Lv.1, Divine Alchemy Lv.1, Void Extraction Lv.10, Overlimit Empowerment Lv.13, Elemental Sovereign Lv.13, Mana Source Lv.13, Mana Shield Lv.13...]
[Equipment: World Tree End Branch (Mythic), Transcendent Astral Robe (Mythic), Fate Star Compass (Mythic), Fragment of Truth (Mythic), Time Sand Pocket Watch (Legendary), Cognitive Filter Lens (Epic), Universal Alchemy Crucible (Anecdote)...]
[Royal Chief Alchemist of the Aodu Empire, Lord of Carlos Lilanka, Master of the Astrology Tower, the foremost practitioner of Transcendent Refinement, and a world-class Alchemist. He holds numerous titles and possesses immense power. His only blemish is his ill-fated chief disciple, Edward.]
So this is the Royal Chief Alchemist Roland that Edward is always rambling about?
Xie Bai floated circles around Roland.
He just looks like an ordinary old man, she thought.
With over fifteen million health, she couldn't one-shot him even with a full-power attack. If she failed to kill him instantly, he would be alerted and deploy various countermeasures. After that, he might escape or counter-kill her—the definition of a glass cannon.
Hmm, this is a bit tricky.
Wait... hold on.
Xie Bai suddenly realized something was wrong.
When facing someone else, her first thought was actually how to kill them?
Wait, since when did I become so bloodthirsty?
Was it the influence of Wrath? Or Greed, Pride, or Envy?
Ever since she put on the Ring of Seven Curses, Xie Bai had noticed her thoughts were being influenced to varying degrees. Whether it was her disdain for the weak or her pursuit of treasure, she felt she had changed.
Ugh, whatever. I won't think about it.
Xie Bai turned her gaze back to Roland.
From the looks of it, was he trying to seal the Void Insect Hive?
Wait, if he did that, wouldn't she be unable to grind for levels?
Should I stop him?
Xie Bai fell into thought.
Just as she was hesitating between following her morals or her desires, a voice solved the problem for her.
"Roland, you've truly brought me a surprise. A Void Insect Hive of this scale is more than enough to initiate our World Destruction Plan!"
A man dressed in pitch-black robes suddenly appeared within the hive.
"The Chaos Church?!"
Roland was shocked to see the newcomer. "I already set up a concealment array! How did you find this place?"
"Heh heh heh... with your pathetic magical prowess, did you really think you could hide from our Cult Leader's eyes?"
With that, the two immediately fell into a standoff. The atmosphere grew tense.
Watching the scene unfold, Xie Bai's lip twitched.
"What... what is this?"
"Is this some classic 'villain initiates the world destruction plan' plot opening?"
For a moment, Xie Bai was at a loss for words.